Sarah -
I'm fairly convinced this story exists only to introduce Kamelion and everything else is just dressing. At least it's only a two-parter, so it can't do too much damage.
Harry -
Very glad to have zipped through this one in less than an hour. Anything more than that and I'd have started clawing at my eyes and ears.
Sarah -
"The King's Demons" wasn't originally scheduled to be the final story of Season 20. Industrial action at the BBC forced the shortening of the season, so we end up with what has to be one of the most anticlimactic Doctor Who finales.
Harry -
While watching it I made sure to note that this goes down as one of the worst season finales ever. Maybe we should keep our comments short to prevent us from collapsing into a total whinge-fest. So much to whinge about here!
Sarah -
The story starts out promisingly -- in medieval England in the home of Ranulf Fitzwilliam, a vassal of Good (or not so good) King John, in March 1215. If there's one thing we can count on, it's that the BBC can do period drama and these opening scenes sparkle.
Harry -
It was a very promising start, with the castle set and location filming.
Sarah -
The King has come to Ranulf to demand more support for his planned crusade and Ranulf insists that he's given all he can. In response to an insult, Ranulf's son, Hugh, is challenged to a joust by the King's champion, Sir Gilles Estram. The action moves out of the castle for the joust, which is really quite well done. The joust is interrupted by the arrival of the TARDIS, which is taken strangely in stride by our medieval King and his court.
Harry -
King John, who seemed a bit stiff at first, delights in the arrival of the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough. He dubs them his demons, and welcomes them by his side to observe the joust. This was a sure sign that something was up. You would expect a medieval king or at least his courtiers to react to strange newcomers with loads of suspicion. Instead, everyone takes their cue from the king, who mellows out with the new arrivals. He accepts the Doctor's request to end the joust without bloodshed, and repeatedly bleats on about his demons. (I wondered if "king's demons" was an actual term from medieval history, but a google search turned up nothing other than a Doctor Who story.)
Sarah -
It's as if TARDISes are turning up all over the place. No one is even slightly bothered.
Harry -
Everyone retires to the castle. Here, we get our first close up look at Sir Gilles - it is a poorly disguised Anthony Ainley! However, neither the Doctor nor Tegan recognize him. The dim lights of the castle worked in his favour, for now.
Sarah -
Apparently, Tegan was too busy freezing in her fetching new frock. How happy do you think Janet was to get rid of the boob tube?
Harry -
Poor Janet! The highlight of her story is the ever-growing mound of wraps and furs she kept putting on to battle the cold. Sadly, she's back to having not much else to do, which only puts more emphasis on the negative lines she has to deliver. It's all very unfair.
Sarah -
Why start being fair to her this late in the game?
Harry -
I read the review of The King's Demons in Outside In and the reviewer made some good points about this story: as a two-parter it was almost doomed from the start to be too short to be able to make a complex story of it. Part one was a nice build up, but part two is basically a 24-minute runaround. Adding the Master to the mix didn't work, especially because our favourite megalo-haha plotter of grandiose schemes is here reduced to tinkering with British history. This story would have been better as a more lighthearted Meddling Monk vehicle and I totally agree.
Sarah -
There's really no point to the Master's meddling here. He feels like an afterthought more than anything. Even the swordplay was boring. And what was with that ridiculous French accent?
Harry -
Ainley's marble-mouthed accent was essentially a series of grunted lines with awkward syllabic stresses. Oh for a chuckling monk! What could have been!
Sarah -
I do have to give a nod to the guest actors, who really do the most they can with weak material. Gerald Flood, as King John, gets the best moment of the entire story when he gets to sing this enticing little ditty:
We sing in praise of total war
Against the Saracen we abhor.
To free the tomb of Christ our Lord,
We'll put the known world to the sword.
There is no glory greater than
To serve with gold the son of man.
No riches here on Earth shall see,
No scutage in eternity.
I had to play the scene back again because I was laughing so hard the first time around.
Harry -
What a mad moment! Maybe we should have reviewed this as a comedy. What with Tegan playing a mound of laundry, and Ainley's out-rrrrageous Franch accent... and now here's barmy King John calling for his lute. The Doctor and Tegan look on like they've found themselves at some bizarro Medieval Times. The whole scene is totally looney tunes.
Sarah -
The Kamelion era, as it were, is just so silly that I tend to completely retcon it out of my memory. I guess there's no avoiding it now, is there?
Harry -
We've read repeatedly that Kamelion was a great concept that the production crew were unable to realize. And this is true. Instead of a C-3P0, we got a herky-jerky animatronic carnival robot. Thank you, BBC budget. Hopefully Flood was paid double for his dual performances, as he should have been.
Sarah -
Kamelion is exactly the sort of thing that non-Whovian friends would toss at you when criticizing your love of Doctor Who back in the 80s -- not that I'm bitter about it, or anything.
Harry -
I don't even know what to add here. The story had promise but fell apart when the Master revealed himself. The sets were nice, but Kamelion was lousy. Worst of all was probably the concluding scene in the TARDIS, when everyone starts getting snippy. Kamelion invites himself aboard in much the same way that Turlough did. Tegan is not impressed and says so. Turlough naturally takes the opposite side. An exasperated Doctor decides he's had enough Australia in his life and announces that he's taking Tegan home. Tensions flare. I hate watching TARDIS teams get snippy.
Sarah -
Total overreaction by the Doctor. And then he reveals that he was never planning to take her home anyway. Nice emotional manipulation, Doctor.
Harry -
Fortunately, every one takes it down a notch and they agree - for now - that the best place to go is the Eye of Orion. Sure why not. And so ends the weakest season finale we've seen for some time. Ugh, let's move on.
Sarah -
I'm ready to move on and quite looking forward to our next destination!
Best Line:
Ranulf: "He is said to be the best swordsman in France."
The Doctor : "Well, fortunately, we are in England.
Favorite Moment: The King's Song.
Lasting Image: Kamelion sitting in the chair, flanked by the Doctor and Master.
3/10
Harry -
Best Line: "All I care about is getting back to the Tardis, where it's nice and warm. No wonder they forced him to sign Magna Carta. Bet there was something in it about underheated housing."
Favourite Moment: Definitely the King's song.
Lasting Image: Tegan looking cold and miserable.
4/10
Our marathon continues with Story #129: The Five Doctors...
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